So we have some kind of "cold front," which means it's finally dipped below 95 degrees before midnight and makes for perfect dog walking weather. River and Robin still have some training to do before we can walk them together, so I took River and my husband took Robin and we took off in opposite directions, and apparently, they had a more eventful trip than we did...

There aren't a whole lot of loose dogs in our neighborhood, but there are a few-- some snappy Jack Russells and Chihuahuas, and a pointer that is easily the most well-behaved dog I've been around. His owner has excellent vocal control over him, but she knows every dog in the place and leashes him when there's others around. I'm still not keen on him being loose, but I don't feel like I need to avoid that block like I do with the snappy yappy guys. I guess Robin turned a corner, and some collie-type dog shot off of a front porch and went after her. She slipped immediately out of her collar and took off running the other direction! The loose dog caught up with her and started backing her into a corner, so my husband tried to step in, the dog snapped at him and bit his shoe. No owner anywhere to be seen. He finally ran it off with a little force and came home, but not before Robin saw a cat while he was trying to put her collar back on

On the upside, she didn't want to fight; she took off running away... On the downside, time to shell out some money on a martingale collar. We have a Gentle Leader front latch harness, but she really has started to hate it. She used to sit for it, but not so much anymore. I can put some sheepskin under her armpits so it doesn't rub in the meantime, but I think a martingale wouldn't be a bad idea.

With those wide bully heads and necks, where/how do I measure her for one? I'd like to get a custom one because I think the adjustables tend to loosen up under strain. I put the tape behind her ears (like where a choke or pinch collar might go) and pulled it tight so that it was pretty solid without cutting off air. Is that right? If I went by the old "two fingers" measurement, it would slide right off of her. Is there something else I should do?

I have a 2" martingale collar that I got from collarmania.I like it for one of my three dogs but he doesn't need it anymore, so I'm actually looking to sell it. Well made though and I always liked that I got to pick out the fabric.

I ended up getting pretty excited about choosing colors and patterns, and just ordered 2 collars from Jacki at the Collar Shop-- one for Robin and one for the River lab. They've had Wal-mart collars for a while, so it was about time they got spoiled a little.

We'll see if a martingale works a little better for her; on the one hand, being able to run away may have been a good thing. On the other hand, I don't want her to bolt and get lost or hit by a car. If she can't run, we can at least pick her up or drag her away or something.

"In these bodies, we will live; in these bodies we will die.Where you invest your love, you invest your life." --Marcus Mumford

Those look lovely! I have a nice red loop martingale from premier, which works extremely well. But now I'm looking longingly at their eco line, because it has the martingale in my favorite deep sea blue.